Environmental Accidents Research Articles

Pre-collision systems for urban environment accidents avoidance

Primary security systems are oriented to avoid accidents, secondary, on the other hand, focus in reducing the consequences of them. There is a group of systems that stands halfway of both sets, they use information sources from first set, but usually they pursue the objectives of the second set, they are pre-collision systems. Pre-collision systems that were taken into account on this research work consider the actions to perform to control the vehicle (steering or breaking), and the generation of signals to deploy the security systems to be activated before the collision. In the present paper, a pre-collision system is presented, the system is able to avoid hits and collisions, or in the event of unavoidable accident, it minimizes the possible damage caused. The development of the mitigation maneuvers depends on the accurate analysis and the correct understanding of the environment. Following this statement, the present work provides obstacle detection, evaluation of risk and avoidance possibility.

Environmental Regulation and Civil Liability under Causal Uncertainty: An Empirical Study of the French Legal System

The key question in this paper is to determine whether regulation and regulators information can help solving causal uncertainty problems in liability. A widely held view among Law & Economics scholars is that civil liability alone is not well-suited to cope with environmental accidents, especially where causation is uncertain or costly to establish. Instead of a simple civil liability rule, it is therefore advocated that a regulatory system be implemented combined with a public insurance scheme, or, alternatively, to go for a mix of regulation and civil liability. Such a mix of regulation and civil liability prevails in French law and this article presents an original analysis of French courts decisions concerning cases of environmental accidents for which causation was uncertain and regulators were not able to control for levels of organizational and human care. The dataset covers more than fifty years of trials outcomes from the highest civil and criminal court in France – Cour de Cassation. We found evidence that French judges apparently use the informational advantage of regulation (in showing that a particular activity may be of higher risk) to adopt a probabilistic approach to causation, thus increasing the effectiveness of the liability system. Claims that would (probably) be rejected in a liability regime (without regulation), given causal uncertainty are now accepted successfully in courts because the breach of regulation guides the judge (and hence cures his informational deficiency) in the difficulties in proving causation that normally arise in environmental liability cases.

The Development of Electrochemical Hypergolic Vapor Monitoring Instrument

To prevent environmental pollution and leakage accident, a hypergolic vapor monitoring instrument based on electrochemistry is discussed in this paper. The electrochemical sensor is designed to detect hydrazine compounds of 10-6 level in real time .The monitoring instrument based on electrochemical sensors shows its advantage of hign specificity and fine stability .

Determining the effect of environmental accidents on responses to a Gulf of Mexico recreational for‐hire fishing industry surveya

A survey designed to collect economic, attitudinal and policy data from the recreational for-hire (RFH) fishing industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was conducted before and during the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history (the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout). Respondents were grouped into two time periods based on when the survey was completed, where the break in groups was determined through the examination of the Pew Research Center's media coverage index and the per cent of fishing area closures due to the oil spill. A logistic regression was used to test variables that might predict the time period of a response. Results indicated that recall bias was not present in the financial variables examined, but that firm operating and demographic characteristics (i.e. vessel size, annual number of trips, number of vessels operating in the firm, tenure and household income) were significant in explaining the time period in which surveys were completed.

Determination of chlorophenols in water by headspace solid phase microextraction ion mobility spectrometry (HS-SPME-IMS)

Chlorophenols (CPs) as persistent toxic compounds are of worldwide environmental concern. Usage of chlorinated phenols, especially pentachlorophenol (PCP), has been restricted or widely banned in many countries due to their possible adverse health effects even at low concentrations. Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has received increasing interest in environmental applications due to its unique characteristics, such as portability and speed of analysis. A range of sample introduction methods combined with IMS enable analysis from different environmental matrices. This study utilised headspace solid phase microextraction IMS (HS-SPME-IMS) in the determination of CPs from water samples. The extraction conditions were examined and the method was applied to real water samples. The developed method is suitable to detect CPs at milligram per liter level in water. Based on the results, SPME-IMS setup is feasible as an early warning system for water monitoring of pollutants present in drinking or surface water in case of environmental accidents or leakages.

A Survey on Abrupt Environmental Pollution Accidents in China from 2000 to 2010

Based on environmental statistics data from 2000 to 2010, characteristics and spatial distribution of the abrupt environmental pollution accidents were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and GIS methods. The results showed a decline in the frequency of accidents from 2000 to 2010. Abrupt environmental pollution accidents occurrence frequency in 2010 is only equivalent to 17.42% in 2000. More than 80% of the accidents occurred in the water and air pollution. Environmental pollution and destruction accidents centralized in western and middle parts of China, mainly in Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangxi. The most frequent types of accident were safety misadventure (27), followed by illegal sewage (22), layout problem (11), traffic accident (10), natural disaster (7), long term accumulation (5), and mismanage (3).Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the need to improve the level of environmental risk prevention and control in the environmental pollution in China.

Study on Scenario Assisted Decision Making Method for Emergent Water Pollution Accident

How to assist decision making efficiently using information technologies such as GIS and water environment models has become a hot issue in the field of emergency study. Starting from the actual need of water pollution accident emergency handling, this paper uses scenario analysis, organically couples GIS, water environment accident models and decision making methods, and establishes an intelligent decision making system for emergent water pollution events. Then, with the actual data from Beijiang River cadmium pollution event entered into this system, it analyses and compares the change of pollution situations in different scenarios, and verifies the effects of the study. Finally, it provides a technical summary and prospect.

Freeway Environmental Risk Assessment and Countermeasures

In recent years, various types of unexpected environmental accidents occurred frequently in China, which had caused great harm to economy and social development of China. The environmental risk assessment (ERA) model was built based on the related factors was described. Take the case of the proposed project of Cangzhou-Qiantongzhen freeway, the environmental risk was assessed by ERA model, and the corresponding countermeasures and emergency plans were put forward in the construction and operation period. The results show that the probability of water pollution in the sensitive sections along the freeway is 0.000927 to 0.011563times per year.

Environmental Regulation and Civil Liability Under Causal Uncertainty: An Empirical Study of the French Legal System

The key question in this article is to determine whether regulation and regulator information can help to solve causal uncertainty problems in liability. A widely held view among Law and Economics scholars is that civil liability alone is not well-suited to cope with environmental accidents, especially where causation is uncertain or costly to establish. Instead of a simple civil liability rule, it is therefore advocated that a regulatory system be implemented combined with a public insurance scheme, or, alternatively, to institute a mix of regulation and civil liability. Such a mix of regulation and civil liability prevails in French law, and this article presents an original analysis of French court decisions concerning cases of environmental accidents for which causation was uncertain and in which regulators were not able to control for levels of organizational and human care. The dataset covers more than 50 years of trial outcomes from the highest civil and criminal court in France – Cour de Cassation. Our results seem to provide evidence that regulation provides a new way to address causal uncertainty at the liability stage. This may be due to a transfer of information from regulators to judges and to the adoption by judges of a probabilistic approach to causation.

Basics of theory of ecological crisis management

Today, it is clear that environmental accidents and processes represent, not only potential but also real causes of crises on which states must be aware of. The formation of the ecological crisis is growing exponentially, along with their consequences. The problem with the environmental crisisis lies not in the fact that they exist, but how we treat them. Exploring the causes of the crisis requires an interdisciplinary approach. At the micro level, this approach focuses on the role of individuals. At the middle level of research, focus is on organizational factors and processes that may play important role in causing the crisis. Macro level of approach lists possible causes that seem to make the crisis more or less inevitable and unavoidable features of the modern world. The crisis is also characterized by negative effects (perturbations, deregulation, conflict, confused action, intense stress, which leads to reckless actions) and positive effects (mobilization, solidarity, cooperation, improved adaptation to the environment, experiential learning). Furthermore, ecological crisis represents an emergency situation whose beginning and duration are not predetermined. Anti-crisis measures have failed mainly because of the numerous factors influencing on one hand, on a complexity of the crisis and, on the other hand, because of its continuously changing factors throughout the duration of the crisis. Managing ecological crisis occurs, therefore, as a permanently professional inventive and complicated process which aims to prevent the escalation of the crisis, as well as the elimination of the expected and actual negative consequences of the crisis. Mismanagement of such crisis drains system resources, interferes with its function and organization, impacts on the financial opportunities while achieving positive goals. Extreme mismanagement can lead to the entropy of the system itself. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate basic facts of managing crises process due to environmental accidents in order to either prevent or reduce the consequences they carry with them.

Waste Management in the Oil and Gas Industry by Brazilian Guideline for Environmental Audits - DZ-056-R.3

Oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) is the main activity for the offshore economy. Yet, this it is also responsible for many of the major environmental accidents. Environmental legislation acts strongly in this type of activity, through limitations in the exploration processes and control procedures for the generation, storage, transportation and disposal of waste, applying penalties in cases of non-conformances, such as oil spills at sea and air pollutants emissions. In this context, waste management is very important for these operations, because of the complexity and dangerousness with the waste generated, and the cost of their destination. This work presents the offshore waste management system, introducing the procedures and controls according the requirements of the Brazilian Guideline for Environmental Audits, DZ-056-R.3.

DIAGNOSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF THE FUELS STATIONS IN GREATER BELEM

Fuels, when improperly stored or misused, may cause grave environmental and physical risks and as the fuels stations present characteristics of potentially polluting enterprises and environmental accidents generators, this work presents a diagnosis of the situation of the fuels stations of Belém, Pará State, by sample, related to the system of installation and storage of petroleum derivatives and other fuels, their main failing which cause impacts over the environment due to leakage, safety devices, equipment that avoid and/or restrain the main impacts like superficial and subterranean waters contamination, soil contamination and other risks: fire or explosion in accordance with the legislation and Brazilian specific rules. The objective is to determine the main failures of the system of storage at fuels stations and the main impacts caused to environment due to leakage. The work was developed by using data collection and in loco observation of fifteen fuels stations in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, by choosing five fuels stations from each class, according to the NBR 13786 , excluding the class 0. All the fuels stations which were observed were nonstandard, excepting one of the III class and other of the class 1. The present field work found that there are some stations that still do not meet the current norms; it is believed that this scenery may be modified sooner due to owners’ and companies efforts in conducting their parks modernization, as also as a more rigorous supervision by authorized bodies.

Where and When Should Sensors Move? Sampling Using the Expected Value of Information

In case of an environmental accident, initially available data are often insufficient for properly managing the situation. In this paper, new sensor observations are iteratively added to an initial sample by maximising the global expected value of information of the points for decision making. This is equivalent to minimizing the aggregated expected misclassification costs over the study area. The method considers measurement error and different costs for class omissions and false class commissions. Constraints imposed by a mobile sensor web are accounted for using cost distances to decide which sensor should move to the next sample location. The method is demonstrated using synthetic examples of static and dynamic phenomena. This allowed computation of the true misclassification costs and comparison with other sampling approaches. The probability of local contamination levels being above a given critical threshold were computed by indicator kriging. In the case of multiple sensors being relocated simultaneously, a genetic algorithm was used to find sets of suitable new measurement locations. Otherwise, all grid nodes were searched exhaustively, which is computationally demanding. In terms of true misclassification costs, the method outperformed random sampling and sampling based on minimisation of the kriging variance.

Lessons Learned From Major Environmental Accidents and Regulations on Hazard Control in China

China is suffering from severe environmental accidents that many have catastrophic impacts on public health and the environment. It is urgent to update the standards for environmental accidents prevention in China. This paper analyses the causes of fifty-three major accidents that happened in 2008 to obtain insight to help prevent similar events in the future. The results show that production accidents, which were mainly triggered by process analysis, training and human error, were the dominant causes of environmental accidents in China. In addition, current regulations on the control of environmental accident hazards and their implementation are also presented in this paper, which comprise legal requirements centering on hazardous chemicals, industrial safety evaluation, risk analysis and preparation of emergency plans. Based on our analysis, some key points that should be developed in future environmental accident hazard control measures are put forward with the aim of shedding light on decision making and risk management in China.

THE RESEARCH OF RISK- AND CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE DECISION-MAKING AND TASK OPTIMIZING SYSTEM FOR ROTATING EQUIPMENT IN LARGE PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS

Downtime of rotating equipment in large petrochemical plants often led to serious or even disastrous safety and environmental accidents, which generally stem from inadequate maintenance or incapability of failure prediction. In order to allocate maintenance resources rationally and improve the reliability, availability and safety of equipment, a kind of risk- and condition-based maintenance decision-making and task optimizing system for rotating equipment in large petrochemical plants is established in this paper. Using real-time database, web service and service-oriented architecture (SOA), a risk- and condition-based maintenance decision-making system architecture is developed to provide a unified data structure and man–machine interface, which integrates reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), condition monitoring system (CMS) and manufacturing executive system (MES) together. Risk assessment and condition monitoring technology is applied to form maintenance decision making, such as to determine the priority maintenance level, to optimize maintenance content, and to determine the right maintenance time. Based on the decision-making system, the risk rank and degradation trend of failure characteristics are used to support the decision making and to optimize maintenance tasks. The result of an engineering case shows that the maintenance decision-making based on the risk assessment and condition monitoring can lower the operational risk while enhancing the reliability, availability and safety.

Investigation Into Stakeholders’ Influence on The Environmental Strategies of Oil Companies - A Case Study of Petrobras

In the oil industry, reputations of companies have been increasingly challenged as the combustion of fossil fuels has been perceived to be changing the climate and threatening society. Scholars have developed important literature on the topic to better understand motivations behind the environmental strategies employed by organizations from wealthy nations, but little attention is given to companies from developing countries. This article aims to explore environmental strategies adopted by Petrobras, a Brazilian oil company. The end of its oil production and exploration monopoly, its internationalization and major environmental accidents have contributed to shifting the company towards a more active environmental role. Brazil’s government, investors, NGOs, internal scientists and regulatory institutions are among the most influential stakeholders in relation to Petrobras’ climate change positioning. This research has also found evidence that NGOs, in particular, not only exercise direct pressure, but also use the media and regulatory institutions to influence the company

Multi-Objective Dynamic Construction Site Layout Planning in Fuzzy Random Environment

Abstract Construction site layout planning is a fundamental task for any project undertaking. In practice, most of construction site layout planning problems are dynamic, multi-objective and uncertain in nature. To enhance the general practice of dynamic construction site layout planning, this paper proposes a fuzzy random multi-objective decision making model. In this model, two objectives are considered: (1) minimizing the total cost of site layout; and (2) maximizing the distance between the ‘high-risk’ facilities and the ‘high-protection’ facilities to reduce the possibility of safety or environmental accidents. After stating the problem and presenting the mathematical formulation, this paper deals with fuzzy random variables to propose an equivalent crisp model. According to the characteristics of the proposed model, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm (MOPSO) with permutation-based representation is proposed to solve the problem. The approach is applied to the Longtan hydropower construction project to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.

Trust and Credibility in Governing China’s Risk Society

C modernization process is characterized by technological advancement, profit-oriented economic development, a consumer society, and global integration. But this modernization process comes together with severe environmental risks. Accompanied by an average annual GDP growth of 10% from 1978 to 2011, China has witnessed an ongoing stream of chemical spills, algal blooms, blood lead accidents, oil spills, food poisonings, flash floods, and sandstorms over the last decades. Over 33 000 environmental accidents were counted between 1991 and 2010. As such China can be characterized as a risk society, and environmental risks are very visible in China’s risk profile. Despite accelerating efforts by governmental environmental agencies at national and local levels to manage these risks, the situation has hardly improved since the mid 1990s. This perseverance of environmental risks and accidents and the widely perceived incapability of the Chinese government to effectively address these risks and accidents have contributed to an increased lack of trust and credibility in environmental authorities among the Chinese public. This lack of trust and credibility is noticeable beyond the area of environmental risks, and seems to have become a general phenomenon in contemporary Chinese society. Credibility and trust have become widely discussed among the public recently as governments are accused to have failed in coping with increasing fraud, fake products, improper academic behavior, illegal land transactions and pollutions, and disfunctioning civil services. A survey on “credibility of Chinese people” showed that the aggregate credibility index has remained stable at a low level. And many of the more than 180 000 annual “mass incidents” are related to a lack of trust and credibility in local governments and the prevailing economic system. This even reached the Chinese leaders, who identified that two major problemscredibility in economy and society and public trust in the governmentis hindering the economic and social progress of China. In October 2011 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved a decision to develop a nation-wide credibility system, and the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011−2015) will be used to establish it, with regulations, a credibility information system, credibility rating agencies, and promotional campaigns to enhance credibility. One of root causes behind poor environmental risk management, and the related credibility-and-trust crisis, is the rapid transition to a high-speed market-oriented development model without having credible institutions in place that counter the side-effects of such a market-oriented development model. Market institutions are not oriented to manage environmental risk, the current hierarchical command-and-control system of environmental rules and authorities fails to do so, and there are no strong civil society institutions to push for environmental risk reduction. In order to rebuild credibility and trust in environmental risks China needs to put trusted institutions in place that succeed in coping with environmental side-effects. Hence, China is currently undertaking a number of “real world experiments” to design and implement new institutions that can cope with the complex problems of high environmental risks, low trust and lack of credibility. First, within the government arena a number of new institutions are being developed to cope with problems of credibility and trust. Strengthening enforcement of environmental laws and policies, especially at the local level, is enhanced through separation of duties and responsibilities, larger resources for monitoring and legal action, incentivizing citizens to tip law enforcers, establishing environmental courts, and having binding environmental targets included in annual responsibility contracts for local officials and mayors. Through these new arrangements environmental credibility and trust is meant to improve, and environmental quality better safeguarded. Second, new market institutions are designed and implemented that aim to bring more credibility and trust by directing economic actors to more environmentally sound behavior. The (mandatory) introduction of Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance for major polluting companies will force environmentally sensitive industries to be ensured against

Dust Suppression with Glycerin from Biodiesel Production: A Review

An increasing number of countries and areas in the world suffer from either natural or anthropogenic dust, which results in a serious hazard with respect to the environment and to personal health and safety. This paper reviews and summa- rizes open literature involving the use of glycerin in dust control applications. Glycerin, a by-product from biodiesel manufacturing, has been evaluated for dust suppressant performance when applied alone as aqueous solutions, or in combinations with surfactants, polymers, or other chemicals. There are reports indicating that glycerin is effective in some dust suppression applications, although details about its use and performance metrics are generally lacking. Re- cent growth of the biodiesel industry has significantly increased the supply of crude glycerin, making it an economically attractive material for use in dust suppression. This paper also highlights several environmental accidents caused by irresponsible discharges of crude glycerin, and points out the need to understand environmental consequences of gly- cerin and its impurities when used in dust suppression applications.

Estratégias de vigilância de um acidente envolvendo planta industrial de produção de ácido sulfúrico

Após acidente ambiental em empresa produtora de ácido sulfúrico, realizou-se estudo transversal para investigação de sintomas respiratórios e irritativos na população. Aplicou-se questionário em amostra aleatória simples, em pessoas presentes no local no dia da ocorrência, no raio de 900 m do estabelecimento, considerando a direção dos ventos. Foi calculada a prevalência de sintomas segundo gradientes de 300 m e realizado teste de Chi-Quadrado para sintomas isolados e agregados. Os dados foram georreferenciados, e foi ponderada a densidade de sintomas por área. Nas 451 pessoas estudadas, o teste de Chi-Quadrado foi significativo para todos os sintomas, exceto chiado comparando gradientes de distância. Os sintomas agregados apresentaram as seguintes ODDS Ratio (OR): respiratórios altos (OR: 6,18; 2,10; 1,00); irritativos (OR: 6,06; 2,09; 1,00); respiratórios baixos (OR: 4,93; 2,08; 1,00); náuseas e dor de cabeça (OR: 4,66; 2,02; 1,00). Os autores encontraram maior densidade de sintomas nas proximidades da fonte emissora. O estudo contribuiu para desencadear medidas mitigadoras na empresa.